The Cobbler
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom McCarthy
Written by
  • Tom McCarthy
  • Paul Sado
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyW. Mott Hupfel III
Edited byTom McArdle
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byImage Entertainment
Release dates
  • September 11, 2014 (2014-09-11) (TIFF)
  • March 13, 2015 (2015-03-13) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Yiddish
Budget$10 million[2]
Box office$6.5 million[3]

The Cobbler is a 2014 American magic realism comedy-drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and co-written by McCarthy with Paul Sado. The film stars Adam Sandler, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Ellen Barkin, Melonie Diaz, Dan Stevens, Fritz Weaver, Yul Vazquez, Steve Buscemi, and Dustin Hoffman. The film tells the story of a cobbler who finds himself able to assume to the form of anyone by putting on their shoes that have been repaired by a special shoe stitching machine which comes in handy for him when it comes to dealing with a local thug and a slumlord. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[4] The film was released on March 13, 2015, by Image Entertainment. The film was panned by critics and was a box office bomb.

Plot

On New York City's Lower East Side in 1903, a group of Jewish men gather in a cobbler's shop to discuss a neighborhood problem. Gergerman has been threatening their businesses, harassing them and their families. Handing a pair of Gergerman's shoes to the cobbler, Pinchas Simkin, he takes them to the shop basement and uses a special stitching machine on the shoes. His young son Herschel enters, and he explains how important the machine is.

In the present day, the great-grandson of Pinchas, Max Simkin is the cobbler. Jimmy operates the barber shop next door. Carmen Herrera, a young woman of the Lower East Side is fighting against large developers who are tearing down parts of the neighborhood to build huge complexes. Max doesn't seem to care at all about the shop. He lives at home with his ailing mother Sarah and wishes they could see Max's father again.

Local thug Leon Ludlow brings his shoes to the shop to resole them. Max's current stitching machine fails, so he uses the old one. He checks Ludlow's shoe size; it's 10 1/2, the same as his. Max tries the shoes on and transforms into Ludlow. He uses the machine on other shoes, and realizes what he can do with it.

Max experiments living as someone else, going to Chinatown as a Chinese man, going to a restaurant as one and leaving as another, not paying. Taryn brings in her British boyfriend Emiliano's shoes, and Max uses them. As Emiliano, he goes to a bar, noticed by beautiful women. One approaches him, noting that she once saw him leaving with a man. Going to his home as Emiliano, he finds Taryn taking a shower and she invites him to join her. He eagerly starts to undress, then realizes if he takes off a shoe, he will no longer be Emiliano, so he leaves. Max decides to make his mother happy by using the shoes of his father Abraham. Having dinner with Sarah as Abraham gives her one more night of happiness.

The next morning Sarah has died, so he and his family sit shiva for the week. When he returns to work, Ludlow demands his shoes back or he'll kill Max. Using several pairs of shoes to disguise himself, Max follows Ludlow to his apartment, witnessing Ludlow extorting businesses along the route. Disguised as Ludlow, Max is let into Ludlow's apartment by Ludlow's girlfriend Macy, who has had enough of Ludlow's abuse and is packing her bags to leave. Max searches for Ludlow's watch collection, and finds a cache of weapons. The real Ludlow returns and starts to strangle Max (still in Ludlow's shoes) until Max tasers him and ties him up. Max, still disguised as Ludlow, goes with two of Ludlow's associates to where a man is being tortured. About to kill the captive, Max calls off the henchmen. Afterward, they meet slumlord Elaine Greenawalt, who gives him an envelope filled with cash to buy out a tenant.

Max returns to Ludlow's apartment wearing someone's stilettos, but Ludlow has freed himself from his constraints. Ludlow ambushes and attempts to kill Max, but during the scuffle is stabbed with the stilettos and killed. Max goes directly to the police to report the killing, but when they go to the apartment, all the evidence is gone. Returning to the shoe repair shop, Max finds the stilettos have been mysteriously returned to the shop counter, along with his bag of shoes and the envelope of cash. Jimmy confronts Max about his recent odd behavior, telling Max the secret, that his father did the same thing before he disappeared.

Max goes with Carmen to visit Mr. Solomon, the man Greenawalt has been threatening. Despite the threats, Mr. Solomon refuses to leave, as he has lived there for decades and raised his daughter there. Max devises a plot to bilk Greenawalt out of thousands while still letting Solomon keep his home. When Greenawalt realizes she is being tricked, she goes to Solomon's and threatens to kill him and kill his daughter. Max has arranged to have this all recorded on camera by the local news, and Greenawalt is arrested.

Max's life starts to return to normal. Carmen goes into the shop and invites him to dinner. Impersonating Ludlow, he gives the watches to Macy, apologizing. As he leaves, he is abducted by a group of men led by the man he had saved. They are about to drive off when their car is struck.

Max wakes up in Jimmy's barber shop and is offered some water and a pickle, which Jimmy says help with the transition from one body to another. Max asks how he knew that, Jimmy takes off his shoes revealing that he is actually Abraham, his father. The real Jimmy is in the Caribbean. Both elated and angry, Max hugs his dad, then is shown a huge collection of shoes that he's gathered over the years. Abraham then takes Max in his limo through the city, telling him the story of how the stitching machine came into their family.

Cast

Production

On September 19, 2013, Adam Sandler was in talks to join Tom McCarthy's The Cobbler, which began shooting in November 2013.[8] Voltage Pictures fully financed the film and it was produced by Mary Jane Skalski.[9] On November 12, 2013 Dan Stevens joined the cast.[5] Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi also joined cast during shooting on November 18, 2013.[6] Other cast members include Melonie Diaz, Method Man, Sondra James, Kevin Breznahan, Greta Lee and Craig Walker.[6] On September 9, 2014, Image Entertainment acquired the US distribution rights to the film for $3.5 million.[10]

Filming

Principal photography began on November 11, 2013, in New York City,[11] before Sandler began his next project Men, Women & Children.[6]

Release and reception

The Cobbler was released in a limited release and through video on demand on March 13, 2015,[12] and since its release, it has been reported to be the biggest box-office flop of Adam Sandler's career – earning only $24,000 at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend.[13] Outside of North America, the film earned $6.5 million[3] and another $2.3 million from domestic video sales.[14]

Critical response

The Cobbler was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 10%, based on 72 reviews, with a weighted average score of 3.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Cobbler represents a slight step up from Adam Sandler's recent comedies, but while its cloying sentiment proves a more palatable substitute for his usual crass humor, it still isn't terribly compelling."[15] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 23 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[16]

Uri Klein of Haaretz pointed out that while The Cobbler is "one of the few times in Sandler's career in which he has chosen to work for a director with a certain pedigree", and "the plot has fantastical impersonation elements that links it to comedians of an earlier era, such as Jerry Lewis and Danny Kaye", the result is unsatisfying in terms of both plot and characters.[17] The A.V. Club chose the film as the worst film of 2015.[18] The Cobbler was discussed extensively on the October 22nd episode of Chapo Trap House during which the film was largely panned by the show's hosts.[19]

Jared Mobarak of The Film Stage gave the film a positive review, noting that "embraces its slightness to warm hearts" and praised Method Man in particular for his performance.[20]

Lawsuit

The Cobbler was a litigant to lawsuit,[21] where an individual was accused of illegally downloading this movie.[22] The significance is that the judge ruled that the IP address provided by the Internet Service Provider did not meet the test to definitively associate a person with a specific activity.[23]

Accolades

Award Category Nominee Result
Golden Raspberry Award Worst Actor Adam Sandler Nominated
Worst Screen Combo Nominated
Any pair of shoes Nominated
Saturn Awards Best DVD or Blu-ray Release Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "THE COBBLER (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. July 10, 2015. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ Han, Angie (September 19, 2013). "Adam Sandler Joins 'The Cobbler' From 'Win Win' Director Thomas McCarthy". Slsahfilm.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "The Cobbler (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
  4. ↑ "TIFF 2014 Adds 'The Cobbler,' 'Madame Bovary,' 'Sils Maria,' 'The Forger' And Many More". Indiewire. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Kroll, Justin (November 12, 2013). "Dan Stevens Joins Adam Sandler in Tom McCarthy's 'The Cobbler'". variety.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gallagher, Brian (November 18, 2013). "Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi Join The Cobbler". movieweb.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (June 12, 2014). "Dascha Polanco Promoted To Regular On 'Orange Is The New Black', Nicole Gale Anderson On 'Beauty & The Beast'". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Adam Sandler in Talks to Star in Tom McCarthy's "The Cobbler"". hollywoodreporter.com. September 19, 2013. Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (October 3, 2013). "Voltage steps into The Cobbler". screendaily.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  10. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (September 9, 2014). "Toronto: Image Takes Adam Sandler's 'The Cobbler' for U.S." hollywoodreporter.com. Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  11. ↑ "'The Cobbler', starring Adam Sandler, begins filming in New York City". onlocationvacations.com. November 7, 2013. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  12. ↑ Tom McCarthy (November 12, 2014). "The Cobbler". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  13. ↑ Yeung, Peter (March 17, 2015). "Adam Sandler: is The Cobbler his biggest flop yet?". Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  14. ↑ "The Cobbler (2015)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
  15. ↑ "The Cobbler". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  16. ↑ "The Cobbler Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 9, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  17. ↑ Klein, Uri (April 21, 2015). "How low can Adam Sandler's career go?". Haaretz. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ D'Angelo, Mike; Dowd, A.A.; Hassenger, Jesse; Murray, Noel; Nayman, Adam; Schager, Nick; Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy (December 16, 2015). "The 20 worst films of 2015". A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2016. 1. The Cobbler
    [...] The consensus winner (or is that loser?) of this year's bad movie crop, The Cobbler was the kind of commercial and critical failure that would stall even a well-regarded filmmaker's career.
  19. ↑ "Episode 152 - Iran off on the Plug Twice (10/22/17)". Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  20. ↑ "[TIFF Review] the Cobbler". September 7, 2014. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Case docket: Cobbler Nevada, LLC v. Gonzales". ia800203.us.archive.org. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  22. ↑ Edwards, Royel (June 28, 2016). "Judge Says IP Address Doesn't Prove Anything in Piracy Case". Gizmodo. Gizmodo, Inc. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  23. ↑ Raul (June 26, 2016). "Two breathtaking first-time precedents demonstrate that copyright troll lawsuits cannot withstand meaningful judicial scrutiny". Fight © Trolls. Archived from the original on June 27, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
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